Randy Weston

Randy Weston (born April 6, 1926, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American jazz pianist and composer of Jamaican parentage. He was described by Marian McPartland as "one of the world's great visionary pianists and composers".

Weston's piano style owes much to Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk (he has paid direct tribute to both on the "portraits" albums), but it is highly distinctive in its qualities: percussive, highly rhythmic, capable of producing a wide variety of moods.

Biography

Early life

Weston was raised in Brooklyn, where his father Frank owned a restaurant. Weston studied classical piano as a child and he took dance lessons as well. He graduated from Boys High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant. His father chose for him to attend there because it had a reputation of high standards. He took piano lessons from Professor Atwell, because unlike his former piano teachers, Professor Atwell allowed him to play songs outside of the classical music repertoire.

After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Weston ran a restaurant that was frequented by many of the leading bebop musicians. Among his piano heroes are Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Art Tatum and Duke Ellington (and Wynton Kelly was a cousin), but it was Thelonious Monk who had the greatest impact.

Randy Weston (politician)

Randy Weston was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives from 1991 to 1999. His district consisted of a portion of Crawford County, Ohio, Wyandot County, Ohio, Marion County, Ohio, and Seneca County, Ohio. Weston won all five of his elections to the House of Representatives successively and within a nine-year span. He was succeeded by Bob Gooding, who was appointed to the position after Weston resigned to accept another position. The next individual to win the seat in election was Steve Reinhard.

References

Timbuktu!

Timbuktu! is a musical, with lyrics by George Forrest and Robert Wright, set to music by Borodin, Forrest and Wright. The book is by Luther Davis. It is a resetting of Forrest and Wright's musical Kismet. The musical is set in 1361, in Timbuktu, in the Ancient Empire of Mali, West Africa.

Production

The musical premiered on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on March 1, 1978, and closed on September 10, 1978, after 221 performances and 22 previews.

The original production starred Eartha Kitt as Shaleem-La-Lume, William Marshall as Hadji, Gilbert Price as The Mansa of Mali, and Melba Moore as Marsinah. It was directed, choreographed and costume designed by Geoffrey Holder, with sets designed by Tony Straiges. Gerald Bordman noted that the sets and costumes had "a Ziegfeldian opulence." New songs based on African folk music were added to provide "some tonal verisimiltude."

Songs

Awards and nominations

Timbuktu

Timbuktu (pron.: /ˌtɪmbʌkˈtuː/), also spelled as Tinbuktu, Timbuctoo and Timbuktoo (Berber: Tinbuktu; French: Tombouctou; Koyra Chiini: Tumbutu), is a historical and still-inhabited city in the West African nation of Mali, situated 20 km (12 mi) north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The town is the capital of the Timbuktu Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali. It had a population of 54,453 in the 2009 census.

Starting out as a seasonal settlement, Timbuktu became a permanent settlement early in the 12th century. After a shift in trading routes, Timbuktu flourished from the trade in salt, gold, ivory and slaves. It became part of the Mali Empire early in the 14th century. In the first half of the 15th century the Tuareg tribes took control of the city for a short period until the expanding Songhai Empire absorbed the city in 1468. A Moroccan army defeated the Songhai in 1591, and made Timbuktu, rather than Gao, their capital.

The invaders established a new ruling class, the Arma, who after 1612 became virtually independent of Morocco. However, the golden age of the city was over, during which it was a major learning and cultural center of the Mali empire, and it entered a long period of decline. Different tribes governed until the French took over in 1893, a situation that lasted until it became part of the current Republic of Mali in 1960. Presently, Timbuktu is impoverished and suffers from desertification.

Timbuktu (disambiguation)

Timbuktu is a city in Mali.

Timbuktu and similarly spelled words may also refer to:

Places

People

Art, entertainment, and media

Film

Literature